Yahoo! Messenger

Yahoo! Messenger (sometimes abbreviated YIM) is an advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger is provided free of charge and can be downloaded and used with a generic "Yahoo! ID" which also allows access to other Yahoo! services, such as Yahoo! Mail, where users can be automatically notified when they receive new email. Yahoo! also offers PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC service, file transfers, webcam hosting, text messaging service, and chat rooms in various categories.

Yahoo! Messenger was originally launched under the name Yahoo! Pager on March 9, 1998.^[1]

In addition to instant messaging features similar to those offered by ICQ, it also offers (on Microsoft Windows) features such as: IMVironments (customizing the look of Instant Message windows, some of which include authorized themes of famous cartoons such as Garfield or Dilbert), address-book integration and Custom Status Messages.^[2] It was also the first major IM client to feature BUZZing and music-status. Another recently added feature is customized avatars. Yahoo Messenger also allows users to access Yahoo Chat Rooms.

Features

Yahoo! Voice

Yahoo! Voice is a multi-device Voice over IP service,^[3][4] provided by Yahoo! via its Yahoo! Messenger instant messaging application. The ability to make PC-to-PC and PC-to-Phone calls is available worldwide. The ability to receive Phone-to-PC calls is available only in the United Kingdom, the United States, and France. It is also available for the Mac OS X platform.^[5]

Voicemail and file sharing

Yahoo! added voicemail and file sending capabilities to their client. File-sharing of sizes up to 2GB was added to Yahoo messenger.

Plug-ins

As of 8.0, Yahoo! Messenger has added the ability for users to create plug-ins (via the use of the freely available [http:/--~~~~Insert non-formatted text here ---- <math>[[Media:Insert formula here]] == [Headline text] == ''Headline text'''''Bold thul;pionjuext''' == == </math>/developer.yahoo.com/messenger/ Yahoo! Messenger Plug-in SDK]), which are then hosted and showcased on the Yahoo! Plug-in gallery. Yahoo now no longer provides plugin development SDK.^[6]

Yahoo! Music Radio

Yahoo! Messenger users can listen to free and paid Internet radio services, using the official Yahoo! Music Radio plug-in from within the messenger window. The plug-in also allows full player functionality, such as play, pause, skip and rate this song.

Webcam

Yahoo's software now allows users with the most current updated versions (messenger 8 through 10) to utilize its webcam service. This option enables users from distances all over the world to view others who have installed a webcam on their end. The service is free with provided speeds averaging from a range in between 1 to 2 frames per second. The resolution of the images can be seen starting at 320 x 240 pixels or 160 x 120.

URI scheme

Yahoo! Messenger's installation process automatically installs an extra URI scheme ("protocol") handler into some web browsers, so that URIs beginning "ymsgr:" can open a new Yahoo! Messenger window with specified parameters. This is similar in function to the mailto: URI scheme, which creates a new e-mail message using the system's default mail program. For instance, a web page might include a link like the following in its HTML source to open a window for sending a message to the YIM user notarealuser:

<a href="ymsgr:sendim?notarealuser">Send Message</a>

To specify a message body, the m parameter is used, so that the link location might look like this:

ymsgr:sendim?notarealuser&m=This+is+my+message

Other commands are:

• ymsgr:sendim?yahooid
• ymsgr:addfriend?yahooid
• ymsgr:sendfile?yahooid
• ymsgr:call?yahooid
• ymsgr:callPhone?phonenumber
• ymsgr:chat - opens chat room list
• ymsgr:im - opens the "Send an IM" window
• ymsgr:customstatus?A+custom+status - changes the status message
• ymsgr:getimv?imvname - loads an IMVironment (example: ymsgr:getimv?doodle, ymsgr:getimv?yfighter)

Interoperability

On October 13, 2005, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced plans to introduce interoperability between their two messengers, creating the second-largest real-time communications service userbase worldwide: 40 percent of all users (AIM currently holds 56 percent). The announcement comes after years of third-party interoperability success (most notably, Trillian, Pidgin) and criticisms that the major real-time communications services were locking their networks. Microsoft has also had talks with AOL in an attempt to introduce further interoperability, but so far, AOL seems unwilling to participate.

Interoperability between Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger was launched July 12, 2006. This allows Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger users to chat to each other without the need to create an account on the other service, provided both contacts use the latest versions of the clients. For now, it's impossible to talk using the voice service among both messengers.

Games

There are various games and applications available that can be accessed via the conversation window by clicking the games icon and challenging your current contact. It requires Java to work.

Chat

All versions of Yahoo! Messenger can access Yahoo! chat rooms.

In June 2005, with no advance warning, Yahoo! disabled users' ability to create their own chat rooms. The move came after KPRC-TV in Houston, Texas reported that many of the user-created rooms were geared toward pedophilia. The story prompted several advertisers, including Pepsi and Georgia-Pacific, to pull their ads from Yahoo!.^[7]

Yahoo! has since closed down the chat.yahoo.com site (which is now a redirect to a section of the Yahoo! Messenger page) because the great majority of chat users accessed it through Messenger. The company is still working on a way to allow users to create their own rooms while providing safeguards against abuse. A greyed-out option to "create a room" was available until the release of version 11.

Facebook

A recently added feature in Yahoo! Messenger allows users to connect with their Facebook friends through the messenger.

SPIM

Yahoo! Messenger users are subject to unsolicited messages (SPIM) and the problem remains unresolved. Blogs and websites addressing this issue are supportive of the chat environment, and writers genuinely want to continue using the service, yet express frustration about Yahoo's apparent failure to address spam and other related problems. User queries are met with forms and replies that Yahoo is "working to resolve the problem," yet there is no evident progress.^[8][9] As of 2007 it is estimated that at least 75% of all users who use Yahoo chat rooms are bots.^[10] Yahoo has introduced a CAPTCHA system to help filter out bots from joining chat rooms but it has done little to actually stop the problem and has only inconvenienced human users.^[11]

Release history

• Windows - 11.5.0.152 - November 29, 2011
• Mac OS X - 3.0.1 Beta (build 35554) - July 20, 2011
• Unix - 1.0.4 - September 2003. It can still be downloaded from Softpedia.
  • Version 1.0.6 can be downloaded from the Unix Beta page: http://public.yahoo.com/~mmk/

Yahoo! released a preview version of Yahoo! Messenger: Yahoo! Messenger for Windows Vista. It had been designed to exploit the new design elements of Vista's Windows Presentation Foundation and entitled a whole new user interface and features. It lacked some basic functions such as webcam support. It has been discontinued.

Compatible software

See also

• Comparison of instant messaging clients
• Comparison of instant messaging protocols
• Comparison of IRC clients
• Instant messaging

References

External links

• Yahoo! Messenger
• Yahoo! Messenger - Official Blog
• Yahoo! Messenger at the Open Directory Project